Corpse Party: The Dead Survivor
by Micena
Summary: The surviving students of Kisaragi Academy encounter another survivor. Kurumi is a strange girl whose story remains to be uncovered, as she draws their curiosity as well as fear. May contain plot points from the OVA. Rated M just to be safe, blood and violence may occur.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, this is my first fan fic, so feel free to review and tell me if I'm doing it right 'cause, honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing. Enjoy! :)

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Unwanted witness<strong>

As Yuka was running from Morishige, she found a hole in the floor and hid under it. She pressed her palm on her mouth to keep herself from screaming. From her hiding place, she saw a pair of unmoving girl's feet. It must have been another dead body impaled against the wall. Suddenly in front of her face an older boy appeared.

'What are you doing, hiding in here?' he asked. 'What's your name?'

Yuka gulped.

'I'm Kizami Yuuya.' He gave her a hand.

'Mochida Yuka.'

She took his hand and got out of the hole and said:

'I'm looking for my older brother, we ...'

'So this is where you were.'

Morishige must have heard them. He was holding a metal bar tightly with a hungry look on his face. Yuka hazarded a look to her right, to where she had seen the unmoving feet. She gasped when she saw there was no corpse. It was like no one had been there at all. She turned back to Morishige, who was talking about putting their faces on his phone. Kizami smirked, a knife in his right hand. _Did he have it all this time? _wondered Yuka. Things descended from bad to worse.

Kurumi was running restlessly. She thought she had heard Mina scream, but that was impossible. She had killed Mina herself, giving in to her begging and sobbing. She was running towards her body nonetheless. Only her steps filled the deathly silence, until she heard another scream. This one was coming from where she had been, so she supposed it must be the girl's. _Either that, or that bitch is playing with me again. _Saenoki Naho had listened to her story, but laughed at her suffering. She said that Kurumi was not dead yet. That was when she still felt her hunger threatening to cut through her throat, before eating fresh human flesh, before throwing everything up and giving up on life. Clutching her sword, she stopped in front of the solid dead body of the murderer.

'How many times do I have to kill you?' she muttered.

As the principal's son reached for her, she ducked and stabbed him in the belly. He fell on the wooden floor and she got her sword out.

'You killed all those children, huh?' she said out loud, then she stabbed him again.

'You made this place up and dragged us into your misery.' Tears shining in her eyes, she stabbed him again and again until the body turned into ash and scattered around. Her sword landed in the creaking wooden floor. As she dragged it out, she saw a blond student staring at her.

_Why did I have to go back? I was safe and well. _Kishinuma Yoshiki was already regretting his decision, he knew that all his bravery was for Shinozaki's sake, and now that they were separated it left him. As he was dragging himself forward, he heard a thump. He went to where the sound was and saw a strange girl stabbing continuously a dead body that seemed to be Sachiko's accomplice. Under all that filth she seemed to be wearing casual clothes and no name tag, her long blond hair reaching her hips. Her sword was an old katana, the sort you found in museums. She was staring at him unable to say a word.

_He is not insane, not yet at least. _She remembered every face of the ones she killed. _May the sins you committed here not be taken into consideration, _she always told them before she killed them. She did in only the ones who appeared to have gone insane and there was no hope for them. But she had not met a sane person in a long time ...

As he was starting to come towards her, she called out:

'Don't come any closer!'

_Why is she afraid? She is the one with the sword_, thought Yoshiki.

'It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you' he said stepping closer.

She held the sword to her side trembling, but not letting go of it, for she might never be able to pick it up.

'I can't ... I'm dangerous' she let out weakly. While she was struggling to get a hold of herself, Yoshiki decided which question to ask first.

'What's your name? I'm Kishinuma Yoshiki.'

'Murakami Kurumi. Is there anyone else with you?' she said, her voice more firm.

'Yes, there are my classmates and our teacher. Have you seen another student wearing a uniform like mine?'

Yes, she had, but she knew for a certainty that his classmate had gone insane.

'No, I'm sorry. Have you seen a girl in a red dress? I'm worried about her.'

Yoshiki's eyes went wide with surprise.

'W-worried? Why?'

'I saw in the newspaper that she is still alive. I think that the teacher is still trying to kill her. He's killed ... far too many.' She could still see Akira's face as that monster was cutting his tongue out.

Yoshiki wanted to explain her everything, but there wasn't time.

'How about we look for her together?' he asked. Shinozaki couldn't be far, maybe he could manage to find the others too. Yuki had told them that the closed space was collapsing, so they might be in the same dimension.

Kurumi nodded somewhat incredulous, but they should hang on to as many of the sane survivors as they could. They started moving on the corridor when they heard another scream. Yoshiki picked up the pace and Kurumi followed him. They found themselves in a big hallway with a hole in the middle of it. There lay dead another student, whose blood was still gushing out.

'Why are you running from your big brother?' a student with the same uniform as the dead one and Naho called out.

Yoshiki looked at the person the mad man was talking to.

'Yuka!' he let out.

Yuka ran to him and Kurumi stepped between her and Kizami.

'I warned you to be good' she said pointing the sword at him.

'Oh, but I couldn't help it. Death is so fascinating' he said licking his lips.'I finally get to see if you're alive or not!'

He rushed to her and she parried his knife with her sword. But he was stronger than her and she soon had to retreat. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around, his knife at her neck.

'Any last words?' he whispered in her ear, his knife tickling the skin of her neck.

She pressed her sword on his foot and quickly jabbed her head in his, Kizami being forced to step backward. It was her turn to attack now.

Before the eyes of Yoshiki and Yuka, she went for Kizami's shoulder, he parried, but she then quickly jabbed her knee into his stomach, then thrust her sword into his chest.

'May the sins you committed here not be taken into consideration' she said as his last breath left him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Reddish Scenery**

Yoshiki was staring at the fresh red blood pouring from Kurumi's sword, while Yuka was hiding behind him, stealing looks from time to time to the cold girl, who was sustaining his stare. Yoshiki was weighing his options: either he decided to separate from her, and risk becoming a victim when she went insane, or he kept her with them and did his best to keep her sane, and risk becoming a victim if he failed. _What a variety of choices, resulting in us getting toasted no matter what. I guess I can just hope that Shinozaki found Sachiko and the others. _He decided to stall that decision with a question.

'Where did you get that sword?'

She looked down and watched the blood pouring like it was rainwater.

'My dad, he likes collecting old stuff. Even when we were broke, he never sold any of that. I took it with me to show it to ... the others.' She left the last phrase hang between them as the silence spread around once again, then wiped her sword on Kizami's shirt. She resumed roaming the corridors as Yoshiki and Yuka followed her. Soon enough Yuka remembered that she needed to go to the bathroom.

'Umm ... Yuka needs to go to the bathroom' she pleaded.

'I suggest you use one of the buckets around here.' Kurumi replied coolly.

Yuka wailed in disagreement. She saw that most of the buckets held blood and body parts. Almost immediately her stomach began to growl. That reminded Yoshiki of the lack of food in the Heavenly Host Elementary, though all the bodies around him spared him of having an appetite.

Kurumi got a candy out of her pocket and threw it to her.

'That should keep you alive a little while longer' she said.

'You have more?' Yoshiki asked full of hope.

'Nope. That was the last one.'

'Well, don't you need it?'

'No. I've been here for quite some time now, so I either starved to death or started feeding on air.'

Yoshiki paled. He was walking alongside a dead girl who happened to have killed everyone she had met besides the two of them. He knew there was no hope for her, no way out, she was condemned to eternal solitude in those ruins. Unless of course, the closed space broke down, in which case she would remain forever lost to everyone who knew her. They went up the stairs to a long corridor, the wall next to them splattered with pieces of a human body.

'S-Suzumoto-san' Yoshiki exclaimed.

Yoshiki and Kurumi had witnessed the incident, though unaware of each other's presence. Even Kurumi had been shaken up ever since and had shunned the children as much as she could. Of course she didn't know that meanwhile they were appeased. She could just recall their sickly pleased faces as they lifted the sweet girl and projected her on the wall at great speed.

Yuka began to tremble, so he turned her forward and went on with their search. Her wailing increased gradually in intensity as someone was contouring in front of them.

'Sachiko-san!' Kurumi called out.

Standing before them was indeed the girl in the red dress, the true murderer of all those children. Yuka screamed and ran to the long corridor on their left.

'Yuka, wait!' He started running towards her.

'Wait!' Kurumi said sharply. 'Who are those who are with you?'

'If you see anyone, tell them you know me!' he shouted from the end of the corridor.

Curiously enough, Sachiko did not make any move during that time. However, on her shadowed face a wide grin appeared.

'You killed one today.' Her words, however hard against Kurumi's heart, were said like a greeting.

'Of course I did. You said they would be put to rest if I killed the ones who went insane.'

'All to be put to rest.' In fact, Sachiko only wanted the fleas to go away so that she could have a little fun, and she had had plenty. Especially chasing that brat around while hearing her crying and screaming, it would be so good to kill her last. And she would wail just like that girl whose eye she had taken.

'I have to go. Keep an eye on those with black hands' she said and disappeared behind a door.

'I will. Especially on the one with dead eyes' she said to no one in particular.

The tape ended. Naomi and Satoshi had just seen a man who had said that he knew a way out.

'That guy knew a way out, and he was looking for blank tapes' Satoshi pointed out.

'This means that there have to be more tapes.'

Naomi held a shred of hope against all those dark thoughts crawling in her heart. Of course, when she got out, how was she supposed to explain Seiko's death? They got out of the room and began roaming the school again.

'Yuka must be in the other building. We should go there and start from the entranceway.

And so they did. However, on their way they entered a hallway where a student appeared to have just died. Near him there was a bloody pair of shoes. Satoshi ran and picked them up.

'These are Yuka's!' he exclaimed with an alarmed look. 'We should hurry.'

'Are you sure?' asked Naomi.

'I see them everyday. There's no mistaking it.'

Naomi nodded and followed him. She did not want to think of a second building just as this one.

After staying immobile, paralysed by pain, Yuka began feeling around, then opened her eyes. On her head was a tile from the wood floor which had held her before the earthquake. She moved her hands slowly and pushed it aside. After getting rid of the rubbish around her, she exited the hallway. Only then did she realise that her shoes were missing. After a bit of walking, she saw numerous pairs of tiny shoes, which marked the entranceway. She then entered it and sat down, only to feel an unpleasant sensation.

'Oh no.'

She must have peed herself when she had fallen. She knew she couldn't wear them anymore, so she hid them in one of the drawers. Sitting on the cold, wooden bench, she began thinking of home. Her mom would be waiting for them with hot dinner, and they would sit down and tell her what she had done today. But now not even her brother could be found. At least she got away from the girl in the red dress, who had called her 'Onee-chan'. Her stomach reminded her that she had a candy in her hand so she ate it. It was better than nothing and the empty sensation in her belly resigned for the moment.

When she heard running footsteps getting louder and louder, she panicked. She was almost crying when she saw her big brother and his friend.

'Yuka! Thank God' Satoshi said and gave her a tight hug.

'Onii-chan!' she said and let her tears fall on her cheeks.

She then felt something strange. Something was hanging from one of the loose threads of her dress. It was a tape with blood stains on it.

'Strange ...' she murmured.

'Naomi, look at this' Satoshi said and took the tape. 'It's says 《 Kibiki Research 2 》. We can go back and find the way out of this.'

'Let's go.' Naomi nodded.

Shinozaki Ayumi was lonely. _Where could Kishinuma be? _she wondered. Yuki was nowhere to be found and she had not seen a soul in quite some time. She resumed her thinking. _If Sachiko is the killer, then we're here because we failed the ritual. But I'm sure everyone said it nine times. I wish Ms. Yui was here. It's all my fault. _She couldn't help it. Whatever thoughts she had would always go back to that. And now that she was alone, she was scared. What if Sachiko decided to silence her? She had no one to protect her. She still couldn't believe that something like this could happen. When she saw a faint shadow she rushed into it hoping that someone was there with her. Instead she found a key. _I wonder what this could open_, she mused. She tried every door that seemed to have a keyhole, but nothing worked, until she found a strange door. _It has to open_, she thought determined. The key worked indeed, revealing a small classroom unlike any other. She could feel an uneasy presence there with her. It vanished as soon as she began to approach it, leaving only a candy on the floor. She took it without thinking and that made her feel like she was leaving her own body. A blink of an eye later she knew she was experiencing some spirit's memory, just like she had with Yuki. She was running without having any control over her feet, a thigh wound sending sharp pain through her. She had an empty sensation in her mouth, coming to the conclusion that she had no tongue. She looked back over her shoulder and saw Yoshikazu's possessed body chasing her. But suddenly her leg gave in and stumbled under her. The last thought she had in mind before she was killed was a name. 'Kurumi'.

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><p>Well, I have to confess, I have no idea how long a chapter should be. Should I make them longer? Also I hope I'll soon get a review 'cause I don't know what I'm doing right or wrong. Also any likeness of the characters' names or personalities with real-life people is purely coincidental, as you probably know. Well, see you next time :)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Lost Lamb**

Ayumi woke up with a headache and the empty feeling in her stomach. _If I don't eat soon I'll digest myself. _She looked around her and saw a strange room. _That's right, the spirit gave me a key. _There was no window, no desks for children, only a blackboard seemed to contour to her eyes. She lit a candle and saw two doors. One was the door she had unlocked, the other seemed to lead to a laboratory. She got up and remembered that there was something in her hand. She unfolded the wrapper and gazed at the taffy. _I usually don't eat candy, but. _She was so hungry and even that old candy was a welcome treat. Now all she needed was water. _After I get out of here, I'll find a cup and fill it with rainwater. _She felt better having a plan, even a short-term one. She stepped into the supposed laboratory and found that she had been wrong. It was an empty room, except for the tense air inside it. She started to feel dizzy again as something was drawing itself out of chalk on the floor. Shinozaki Ayumi's curiosity exceeded her fear and she concentrated on what appeared in front of her. _A circle, two circles ... a triangle, no, a star. A pentagram_, she realised staring around her. When it was finished, the pentagram glowed in the darkness against a figure standing in the doorway. She turned and saw her, blood pouring from her side.

'Ms. Yui!' she called out and ordered that her feet move in spite of the dizziness.

No sooner had she started moving towards her teacher than the floor started falling at an unusual angle and Ayumi screamed. Ms. Yui ran to give her a hand, but her feet gave in and she stumbled down the trapdoor. Her hand reached the steady part of the floor, five fingers short of falling in whatever hell awaited them down. Ayumi was holding on to a splinter of the floor which was tearing fast.

'Quickly, hold on to my foot!' Ms. Yui shouted.

Ayumi did as she had said. Ms. Yui reached to safety with her other hand and continued:

'Climb on me! I can't hold us both!'

'But what if-'

'There's no time, Shinozaki-chan! Come on, you have to get out of here!'

'Okay.' she said unwillingly.

She grabbed Ms. Yui's shirt and heard her suppress a gasp of pain. A tear fell down in the blackness as she pulled herself up to safety. She then stretched to help Ms. Yui out, but the tile she was holding on to tore and she fell further down the trapdoor. As she grabbed a loose splinter she shouted:

'Shinozaki, go! You have to find the others and get back to your families!' She saw Ayumi crying and continued. 'I know you can, I know you can. Be strong!'

The splinter folded with a crack and Ms. Yui fell down. Ayumi never heard any collision with the ground, though she waited for it. The silence engulfed her and, when her tears dried, she exited the laboratory and the once locked room. She started wandering around, unaware of anything exterior to her. _She saved me. Why? Why? I want to die already and put an end to all this. _Then she remembered that she could not escape that easily, that the pain would continue if she didn't find a way to appease Sachiko. _Right, I have no choice but to fight. _She started running, looking for any sign of life. She stopped when she got to a dead end, a huge crack extending from a wall to the other. She glanced to the other part of the hallway and then turned around. _I'll find them. Be strong, save them! This is the least I could do for Ms. Yui and Suzume-chan. _She started forward.

'Class rep!'

She knew that voice. She faced the crack again and smiled.

'Nakashima-san, Mochida-kun!'

She wanted to hug them, but she couldn't. Seeing that they were alright was more than enough to her though, and they started asking each other questions.

Yoshiki was running with no sense of direction. _If she fell, I have no idea how I would tell Satoshi about this. _He knew he had to protect Yuka and failed. Something appeared in front of his feet and he tripped over. A hand grabbed his ankle and he faced Yoshikazu. He started kicking as hard as he could, but to no avail. In the other hand, the long-gone teacher had a sledgehammer, which he swung back preparing to strike. Yoshiki screamed in horror and kicked harder, scratching at the rotting hand.

When he freed himself it was too late. The blow caught him in the belly and the impact pushed him back against the wall. As the pain was pulling him into the other world he tried to fight it. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he saw Yoshikazu dragging closer. He wanted to scream, but the pain only let him gasp, his arms moving restlessly trying to find a way to escape, watching Yoshikazu for the last blow. _Please, make it stop. They say this is the pain I'll feel for eternity. _Yoshikazu suddenly froze, the tip of a blade sticking out from his heart. The sledgehammer dropped to his side and he fell to his knees, revealing Kurumi behind him. With her foot, she pulled her sword out as the body fell forward with a bone breaking sound. Under her spiteful eyes, the body scattered into ash once again. She moved her look to Yoshiki and her eyes became alert as she caught glimpse of the gushing blood.

'This looks bad. I'll go to the infirmary and bring some bandage and alcohol.'

'No, no ... ' he tried weakly, but his strength was leaving him.

'Hey, dying is not an option! I heard of some endless pain awaiting the dead. Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it. Hold on, I know you want to' she declaimed.

He reached to her with his hand, but she was already running down the corridor. She knew the infirmary was in the other building, so she wasted no time. She passed tossed bodies, gloomy classrooms, blood stained walls. She ran to the other building like she had never dreaded it, passed the body of a brown-haired girl with two curls brushing her cheeks, who she had heard laughing and saying how she would get back home to her brothers. She wondered what her ghost was doing. She entered the infirmary, her hands moving swiftly for bandage. She found enough for her needs then looked for alcohol. She found the bottle empty on the floor, next to a burnt door. Somehow she had not seen that when she had entered.

'Now I have to go there.'

_There _was the Nurse's Office, where she dared not enter, but she had to. She couldn't let that boy die and rest with that pain forever. She felt her eyes itch as her last memory of Akira sneaked into her mind. No, she dared not to let another innocent die more than she dared not enter that room. She stepped into the corridor that preceeded the office. She didn't stop when she saw the little girl from earlier and another girl leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. They watched her curious, but said nothing. She remembered that this place used to give headaches and nosebleeds to whoever wanted to pass, but she couldn't feel anything else than her own dread. She stepped into the dark room.

Ayumi picked up Nakashima's ID and moved on. She had to remind herself to give it to her the next time she saw her. She was glad to see Mochida safe, but the faces of Shinohara and Morishige only made her feel more guilty. If she ever got out of this God-forsaken school, she would have to live with what she had did. _Shinohara, Suzumoto, Ms. Yui, Morishige. If Kishinuma dies too, I don't think I'm gonna make it. _She thought of letting Mochida and Nakashima use their way out and and leave her to appease Sachiko. _But if what they say is true, then we definitely failed the charm. _She was headed to Naho to get the answers she needed. She stopped to gather sheets of paper scattered on the floor and recognised Naho's handwriting on them. _What? The Shinozaki estate? She knew about all this? _The more she read, the angrier she became. She had to find more of Naho's notes before confronting her.

She didn't know if there were more notes, but she still looked for them. She saw from the others that Naho did everything for her mentor, Kou Kibiki, the one where Nakashima and Mochida found a way out from. Naho's notes confirmed that too, but there had to be more to it. She couldn't know more than Naho, who researched this case so thoroughly. She went into a classroom she had not searched before and saw desks and chairs randomly left and moved by the earthquakes. In the back she found more paper, but no words on it. She took the paper in her hand and waves of emotions overwhelmed her, as if those were the words she was looking for.

'Kibiki, I'm sorry. My research was far too broad, and my descriptions far too naive. This place is not the simple spiritual plane I thought it to be. If we do not return soon, our lives may be in danger. Aside from that, getting out won't be that simple. We need to appease the spirits who created and sustain this closed space. Please come meet me. I wanna see you again.

'Kibiki, I finally found you. I am so tired, my hands are jet black, but I don't care, because I found you and now I know everything will be okay. I will give you a tight hug ...'

Naho's voice stopped. All the words appeared on the paper, as if they had been there all this time. Ayumi knew what happened from there. _She killed him, but she said she was still looking for him. _She got up and went to the library. She had to know how Naho had succumbed to the darkening and how she could write the wrong instructions for the 'Sachiko Ever-After' charm on her blog. She made tens of students die for the sake of that journalist's research.

Naho was in the library.

'Naho, I have some new infirmation to share with you.' she said coolly.

Naho turned to her.

'You have my attention.'

'I found the true murderer.'

Naho looked at her with interest.

'It's Sachiko, and we have to appease her in order to get out of here. Yoshikazu was only an accomplice.'

'Hmm, interesting. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.'

She turned to leave. Ayumi did not get the reaction she had wanted out of her, so she had to tell her about the notes.

'Wait.' she started. 'I'm not done talking to you.'

'Oh? But I lost interest in what you have to say.' she replied innocently.

That made Ayumi angry.

'I found your notes. You posted the wrong instructions on your blog on purpose. You knew that we would fail the charm and end up here.'

'So?'

'You made a lot of people die! You spread Sachiko's curse across the whole country!'

It was Naho's turn to heat up. She glared at Ayumi and her hand formed into a fist.

'You think I don't know that? You can go fish!'

'What?'

'People who take stuff from the Internet for granted are all a bunch of morons. All I did was so that Kibiki would get the recognition he deserves. But you occult freaks can all go rot for all I care!'

Ayumi's tone rose abruptly.

'Do you remember the last thing you did before you died?'

Naho raised her hand to her chin in thought.

'Hmm, that is the only thing that I don't remember.'

'You found Kibiki, but before that the darkening took you over. I think that because of your abilities you can keep a stable form, but even you succumbed to the darkening. But instead of hugging him, you strangled him to death. You killed the man you loved, Naho.'

'No, no, no ...' she wailed, darkness gathering around her. She screamed as shadow gushed from her mouth until nothing remained in the library. Ayumi was alone once again. She stepped out of the library only to be caught in another earthquake. _Maybe this one will help me get to the others, _she thought as she was leaning against the wall. Her eyelids suddenly felt so heavy, it would be so good to sleep a little ...

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><p>This is where the storyline parts with the regular one, as Kurumi begins to influence the other survivors. If that does not bother you, then see you next time :)<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Persistent Torture**

Kurumi was standing in the Nurse's Office unable to move. _Snap out of it! _she tried to command to herself, but not even her lips would move. Her eyes seemed to be the only ones that worked, so she looked around. Her look crossed with a brown terrified one. It was a high school student in a white shirt, his soft features and shiny brown hair reminding of long lost innocence and crushed dreams. She wanted to tell him to run, but all she did was water her eyes. A light by the desk went on and a bright figure appeared in front of it.

'_Sacchan is my pride and joy. She would do anything for me. She would even kill dozens in order to keep me from feeling lonely._'

The sword dropped with a clang. Kurumi was suddenly aware of all the muscles in her body. The word _kill _accompanied her trembling and sneaking weakness in her and she would have collapsed if she had not just seen the figure. It was a nurse with short black hair, her neck twisted awkwardly where bits of bones were wrongly crowded under the purple skin.

'_Today she sent me three adorable children. I will take good care of them._'

She knew they were the children in the newspaper article. But if Sachiko killed them, then nothing would make sense. Sachiko was a good girl, she had never hurt her. She heard a page flipping sound and looked in that direction, catching a glimpse of an open diary.

'_Today is Sacchan's seventh birthday. I hope she likes the stuffed cat I got her. But before anything, I had to sort out some documents. Sachiko, wait for me downstairs._'

The figure grew fainter and fainter, until it completely disappeared, leaving the both of them in perfect darkness. She could hear the boy's panting as he began to move and took the diary. She felt for the alcohol, finding a bottle and smelling it. The smell was faint, but there was no mistaking it. She took it and got out. The boy shortly followed. At the end of the hallway, the two girls were still waiting.

'Satoshi! Thank God!' the older one said relieved.

Something about her made Kurumi hold back. The smell of her felt eerily frightening, it must have been the darkening.

'Onii-chan,' the younger girl cried.

'Who are you?' Satoshi asked. 'Are you a survivor? Is there anyone else out there?'

Kurumi just stared at him, then at the diary in his hand. Satoshi understood and took a look at it.

'It's written _Shinozaki Yoshie_ on it. She must be Sachiko's mom. This diary must tell us how this all happened, why Sachiko is doing this.'

He opened it where it had left off. That entry was dated from 1953, then there was a pack of blood dried pages that just couldn't be separated. The next entry was the first one, dated from 1973.

'Twenty years later,' Satoshi gasped. '_Sachiko has a flesh body once more. She kills so many children, but she can't do it alone. She is using that man. Serves him right._'

'_Sachiko is no longer killing for my sake. Now she's killing because she enjoys it. I wish you would come to see me. Sacchan, I should not like that. But even so, I love her with all my heart._'

They could see her pale face, her bruisy eyelids. Her voice was clear and serene, the nickname _Sacchan _filled with undying love. As Yoshie vanished, something rolled on the floor. Yuka picked it up and showed a stuffed cat to them.

'The pages, I can read them now,' said Satoshi. '_I had to sort out some documents before I went out. The principal joined and listened to me. His mental state was questionable, but he was a kind-hearted man who always listened. But this time it was different. He approached me from the back and began unbuttoning my shirt. I tried to get out from his firm grip and I somehow made it out of the office. I trailed down the stairs as I felt I was being pushed towards it. _

'_I couldn't move, a giant puddle of blood around me. I imagine it was a lot to clean later. From my position, locked in my dead body, I could see Sachiko staring at me. She tried to run, but she had the stride of a seven-year old. He easily caught her and, under my very eyes, strangled the life out of her. _

'_I appear to be dead. I can't forgive you. I won't forgive you._'

'These pages seem to contain only lines like 《 _I will kill them all _》.' Satoshi said.

They looked over the next pages. Yoshie cursed the entire family of the principal, thus his son ending up helping Sachiko in her killing. After the three bodies were found, Heavenly Host was demolished and the principal took his own life by jumping off the roof.

Kurumi could not believe it, would not believe it. The bottle still in her hand reminded her of the urgency of her deed.

'I have to go. Your classmate is hurt.' she said.

'Yoshiki? No ... we have to save him,' Satoshi said hopelessly.

'Right now, the only thing you can do is get to the bottom of this,' Kurumi replied firmly. She turned to leave, but Satoshi called her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him throwing her sword to her. She tried to catch it, but her free hand went right through it.

'No, not now, concentrate' she said to herself. She knew she could do it. She had to cling to the little bit of life that was left her. She felt strength embedding her hand, as she felt lively power compelling her once again. She picked up the sword and ran.

'She's right, whatever she was. We have to appease Sachiko, and I think we can use this stuffed cat,' Satoshi pointed out.

Naomi nodded somewhat incredulous. What she wanted more and more was to just die and end her torment. She knew getting back home would do her no good without Seiko. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she wiped them off before anyone noticed.

Ayumi found the mouth of an incinerator, the sort found in crematoriums. Peeking inside she saw something and slid inside. She was crawling on her elbows when she heard a coarse shout.

'Turn back.'

There was definitely something in there, so she went on.

'Turn back!'

The voice became more urgent as she kept crawling. It was clearly Sachiko's voice that urged her to turn back. Then suddenly the incinerator closed and she heard a giggle.

'Didn't I tell you to turn back?'

Ayumi stopped, but she felt some scary presence approaching her. _This can't be the end, if I die here, no one will find my body. _Terror brought tears into her eyes and thorns into her veins, a scream forcing out of her mouth.

Somehow Yoshiki managed to remain conscious all that time. He found in himself a strength that he had never known to possess. His wound was patched up, but he knew that the others had to find a way out soon, otherwise he was not going to make it. Kurumi seemed to be shaken up, tears pouring uncontrollably on the floor. It was strange, she struck him as a cold, firm person.

'Is there something wrong?' The question seemed obvious in that situation, but he had to ask.

Kurumi turned to him, eyes shiny.

'Sachiko is the murderer. She was murdered by the principal, and now she is taking it out on us. Her face was all different from before, she knew I knew, but she didn't care. She just ... kept stabbing my friend with those scissors. She then opened my mouth and cut my tongue. And there was nothing I can do, running seemed the only way to make it stop. I don't care what happens to me, when your friends appease her, this will all be over. I'm dead, I know there's no hope for me. I used to fear ceasing to exist, but it looks so comforting now. I just want not to exist anymore.'

'Maybe if Heavenly Host is destroyed, we will all go back to our lives, even the dead ones,' said Yoshiki unconvincingly. He knew he couldn't go back to a life without his friends. All that pain in his belly could not even compare with what he had felt when he had seen Suzumoto getting smashed on that wall. All his everyday worries seemed childish blabbering now that he feared the safety of his classmates. All his suicidal thoughts seemed a sad joke compared to the need to hold on he had at the moment. 'Do you still have your scrap of paper?'

Kurumi took the scrap out of her pocket and showed it to him.

'Good, then you will be fine. Maybe if you do the ritual with us, you will come back with us.'

'Maybe,' murmured Kurumi. She suddenly felt so filthy, she wanted to get out in the rain to wash herself.

'You're thirsty, aren't you?' she said serenely.

'Hungry too, but I guess it's quite obvious,' he replied, once again aware of his needs.

'I have a cup outside in the rain. I'll bring it to you.' She got up.

'Thank you.' He looked grateful at the ghost who helped him unconditionally all this time.

'Don't mention it. Make sure you don't die while I'm not around,' she said with the shadow of a smile.

'That won't be easy' he smiled back.

She left. Yoshiki watched her get smaller and smaller, disappearing behind a corner. He realised he had never appreciate other people more than then. _Everyone, please be safe. And to say I'm not a soft one, but I wanna cry so bad, if only that brought a solution to all this. Shinozaki, you surely have everything figured out in that creepy mind of yours. Even if you only care about Satoshi, it doesn't matter anymore, I don't mind. Just get everyone out of here._

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><p><em>Merry Christmas, everyone! And don't forget about the people who are with you everyday, they make life easier to bear, even raise it to the state of gift of God. No matter the gravity of your problems, sometimes a little help solves them. See you next time :)<em>


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Resented Solace**

'It's too dangerous,' Naomi insisted.

'It's our only chance to get something from his office,' Satoshi replied sharply. His tone went back to normal as he said: 'Look, I'll just take the key when he's on the ground, all I have to do is jump over this fence.'

Naomi closed her eyes and nodded. 'Okay, just ... be careful.'

Satoshi was completely worn out. He couldn't fathom what force drove his muscles, for he just dreamt of collapsing in a dry corner and dying. _How come we get to the only place where death doesn't bring any closure? _he wondered inert. His eyelids were dancing persistently, his mind floating in nothingness, until he heard the ever heard scream.

'Here it goes.' he said as his body moved on its own towards the suicidal principal. He lifted himself over the fence then hurried to pick up a small key from the dry ground in spite of the constant rain. He then turned back safely under his sister's relieved smile.

'This doesn't open any doors,' he said studying the key. 'It could be a key to a desk.'

'Let's go, I don't like staying here more than we have to.' said Naomi starting to walk to the other building. Yuka and Satoshi followed. Yuka reached for her brother's hand.

'Say, onii-chan,' she started looking at her feet, 'How much till we get home?'

Satoshi's heart seemed to beat harder against his chest. 'Not long now. We'll be home before you know it.' He pulled a smile for her.

Yuka knew his smile was forced the moment she saw it. It looked nothing like the way he smiled when they were playing in the backyard in the summer, and she would ask how much time they had to wait till dinner. She stepped on something that immediately snapped loudly and, when she looked at it, she saw bits of dried bone. She wanted to cry, but she didn't want her brother to start to cry too. She tightened the grip on his hand and looked at what lay ahead of her.

Yoshiki drank the precious water like he had never done before. He didn't even pay attention to the searing pain in his side. A smile made its way on his lips when the cup was empty. 'Where did you find this cup?' he asked just to break the silence that threatened to pull him back to the pain.

'A science lab I think, or a desk.' she said frowning. 'This place is full of useful stuff if you know where to look.' Her voice had a monotonous tone, like she wasn't paying attention.

Kurumi didn't feel anything. The numbing sensation scorched through her body like a plague. She closed her eyes, hearing all the objects she was carrying falling on the floor. Her mind was fading into nothingness, _maybe I'll fall asleep after all this time_, until a voice pulled her out of her spiriting away.

'How do you touch things? There are ghosts we can barely see, but you move and interact with objects like you're alive.' His voice was arching up and down with curiosity.

'I never let go of my humanity,' she said choosing her words carefully. 'There is someone out there whom I promised to never give up.' She let out a faint laugh. 'I obviously didn't mean it back then. I guess not feeling much made it easier.' She turned to him, who was watching her silently. 'Wanna know it is? To be dead?'

He didn't say anything, but his focused look prodded her to go on.

'At first, you just wander without any sense of direction, or of anything else for that matter. You pass by all kinds of disturbing stuff, but you don't give them a second glance. At some point, you discover your body and realise you're dead. Then you just stare at yourself, all kinds of thoughts passing through your mind. Some of them stop to pester you and define what kind of spirit you would become. I like to think I'm not a vengeful spirit, and the darkening never touched me. Sachiko made this place be ruled by strong will, so I guess that's all you need to survive.'

Chaos is a notion often used to describe a general disorder in the motion of the environment surrounding the ones who use it. In Heavenly Host Elementary, the word was often dancing on the lips of both the dead and the living, but was always pushed back by the silence and the unmoving objects that seemed to engulf the entire place. Chaos could be better understood as a state of mind, caused by the various feelings and ideas that take over one's thoughts, having diverse consequences to further conceptions of the outside world. Understanding chaos and cleaning the mind would be necessary to maintain sanity, otherwise it would become a mere servant of chaos, the body in which it rests becoming a host of the darkening.

Kurumi had understood as much while reluctantly observing lives and deaths of students, some of them being her own work. _It is torture to let one's mind struggle in its insanity_, she soon realised and Sachiko soon contributed with the idea that the ones who were killed would find their peace. As the lie unfolded before her eyes, she decided that what she had done out of misguiding beliefs she would have done out of self-preservation.

Such thoughts also bothered Naomi, but she brushed them aside, deciding that her mind should be occupied with finding a way out. She looked at her classmate, who still stood tall, who had been labeled as the cry-baby of the group, who made everything move. _I wonder, will he make my life worth living? _she thought melancholic. Would he be able to outbalance the loss of Seiko in her heart? Did he have to? She shook her head in confusion. She was not sure of what she wanted anymore. She stepped into the principal's office begging her brain to shut up.

_'Do you know what day it is?' asked Mina turning her gaze to her. _

_'Of course she knows. It's a special day, right, Kurumi-chan?' Akira followed pursuit. _

_Kurumi could just guess what those two were talking about. 'Umm it's ... Saint ...? It's none of your birthdays, I'm sure of it!' she snapped. _

_'Oh, come on, I know you're not a softie but even you should remember!' Mina replied gesticulating, throwing her arms into the air like she meant it. _

Crap, this is important_, Kurumi bit her lip guilty. _

_'Okay, okay, cut her some slack, Minasaya-chan. She clearly doesn't see the impact she's had on us.' Akira smiled. _

_'Well, I see the impact I've had on you!' Kurumi grinned and slapped his belly. _

_Mina started laughing loudly. 'You've been had by your girlfriend! It sure must hurt!' she smirked. 'Anyway, ten years ago, on this exact day, you entered that playground with a crying puppy face and asked us if you could join us. Then we were inseparable, no one dared challenge our friendship! On this special day, I have a gift for you two.'_

_Kurumi stood stunned, blushing, with tears in the corners of her eyes. She denied them later, but the feeling was there. _

_'Now don't you cry on me, you two!' Mina said giggling. 'It's a charm that will always keep us together, if we do it right.'_

Kurumi opened her eyes. Something was there, forcing her to see that last good memory. She could feel the presence moving. She stood up and picked up the objects she had dropped earlier, stuffed them into her pockets, then carefully picked up her sword and stepped forward. She heard Yoshiki wake up with a moan.

'Was that ... true?' he asked confused.

'Yes, it was, but I didn't bring it back. Someone's here.' She raised her sword and held it before her protectively. 'Show yourself!' she shouted.

But whoever it was kept dancing in the shadows. Kurumi sensed movement to her left and went there, thus letting a figure escape to her right.

'Kurumi' they heard a whisper.

That voice was painfully familiar. She took the corner to her right finding no one.

'Aki-kun?' she let out faintly. She had been looking for him, for his corpse. She had not seen him die, but the last she saw of him was him running from that teacher. She had then heard the sound of something tough hitting soft flesh and breaking bones. She had even been able to hear the body falling uselessly on the floor. After some time, she went looking for him but found nothing.

She had been at her worst then, but somehow she still kept a shred of hope that Akira was alive. She went back to where she had been and sat down on the floor. The presence had faded, but she had still plenty of time to find him.

Like the outside, the principal's office was full of seals on the walls, on the floor, even on the desk, as if something had been kept inside. Satoshi turned the key and opened the drawer to find a bloody pouch. As he took it into his hands the world seemed to shift away from his eyes. He screamed losing balance, then found himself in a dark room with earthy walls, a man digging a hole beside him.

'_Every night, you show up in my dreams, you just wouldn't leave me alone! I said I'm sorry!_' the man started crying. '_She overreacted, it wasn't my fault, what was I supposed to do? Why won't you leave me alone?_' The man stood up. '_Oh, I get it. You're not actually dead, you're just pretending._' In front of him lay a dead Sachiko, eyes wide open. '_You see, I can't let you tell a soul about this._' He reached out to her mouth, a pair of scissors in his other hand. '_Now, this way I'll make sure no one finds out._' He severed her tongue, then stabbed her frail body continuously. '_In order to keep you away from my dreams, I'll kill you as many times as it takes._' With a mad force he started burying Sachiko back in her grave.

Satoshi woke up kicking and screaming. Naomi tried to stop him telling him to calm down. He raised the pouch in his hand, his tongue stumbling with the words.

'That's, that's ... her tongue.' he finally managed. 'What now?' he asked after he was back on his feet.

'It feels like ... like there's something here.' said Naomi and began searching the place.

She just couldn't help it. All those seals couldn't have been placed there just for a dammed tongue. She opened a closet and saw a wooden wall, however when she placed her hand on it, it slid like a door. The three just stared at the secret passageway.

'Let's go.' Naomi prodded and entered narrow space. She could feel that they were close, but close to what she couldn't tell. She felt for her ID in her pocket, where her paper scrap was in a safe place again. Maybe the class rep brought them there, but Shinozaki saved her. _Why did she tell me not to get too close to Satoshi, though? _The thought had never crossed her mind before.

Ayumi opened her eyes with difficulty. She could feel her hand resting in some sort of liquid, but when she saw the blood she screamed. The place was studded with rotting corpses bathing in their own liquid mass. Breathing heavily, she found a way out and rushed to it, entering what looked like an underground maze.

'It looks like ...'

'... an abandoned bomb shelter.' a voice finished it for her.

Ayumi turned to the voice.

'Nakashima-san! Mochida-kun! Where are we?'

'Close to Sachiko's grave, we hope,' replied Naomi. 'We have her tongue and the stuffed cat from her mother. We should be able to appease her now.'

'If we manage to appeal to her humanity.' Ayumi repeated Yuki's words. 'Let's go further.'

That place was indeed a maze decorated with badges of slaughter. Yuka felt that she was reaching her limit when she saw severed heads aligned on long tables. One of them had light green-gray eyes and roughly cut short blonde hair, her stare joining the more others and accompanying the dead as well as the living in their journey to their end or their beginning. The silent watchers kept the looks of the passersby straight and their pace steady and fast. Their eternal hope that their farewells would be heard struggled against the deathly silence that engulfed the underground fortress. In places like that chaos played freely.

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><p>Whew, this one was difficult. Hoping you'll stick with me while Kurumi's story unfolds. Well, see you next time :)<p> 


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